Phillies' Ryan Howard fulfills kid's home run request

WE FIGURE Phillies fans probably need a bit of good news after the weekend's disappointing losses to the Marlins.

To that end, we take you back to Friday night when Ryan Howard hit a home run at the request of A.J. Moncman, a 7-year-old who is blind.

It was Teacher Appreciation Night and A.J. was at the game because his teacher, Bethann Molinari - who he had nominated - was being honored in a pregame ceremony.

A.J. attends Hopewell Elementary School in Upper Saucon Township and Molinari taught him how to read and write in Braille.

The two got to meet Howard before the game and A.J. asked the Phillies slugger for a favor.

"I told him, 'I want you to hit a home run tonight just for this,' " A.J. said in an interview on MLB.com.

And Howard did just that - belting a 356-foot shot off Ricky Nolasco in the second inning.

Phillies announcer Tom McCarthy made the call: "Ryan rips one deep to rightfield. There you go A.J!"

Afterward, A.J. said, "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's probably for me.' "

Even cooler is that Howard was wearing a wristband that A.J. had given him to promote awareness of LCA, a rare eye disease.

Let's hope Howard wears it again tonight when the Phils open a three-game series in San Francisco.

It was on this day, 3 years ago that Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts died at age 83.

A member of the Whiz Kids who won the National League pennant in 1950, Roberts pitched 305 complete games over 19 seasons. That includes 28 consecutive CGs spanning the 1952-53 seasons.